The present invention broadly relates to hand tools. Specifically, the present invention is a pulling system intended to be employed with locking pliers such as those commonly known as Vise-Grips.RTM.. Art pertinent to the subject matter of the present invention can be found in U.S. Patent Class 81, Subclasses 427 and 84.
Over the years, locking pliers or Vise-Grips.RTM. have proven to be very versatile tools. Their primary use is to actively grip an object such as a nut or the head of a bolt or screw, allowing the operator to concentrate his or her strength on twisting the nut, bolt or screw. Likewise items such as slide hammers and cable pullers have provided craftsmen, especially in automotive body work, a proven means to transfer tension to a sheet metal workpiece.
As one would expect, numerous parents have been issued on locking pliers designs. Petersen, U.S. Pat. No. 1,489,458, issued Apr. 8, 1924, is a very early example. Many improvements have also received patent protection. Some concern operation of the pliers' mechanism, such as Kash, U.S. Pat. No. 2,489,895. Petersen, U.S. Pat. No. 2,641,149, is an early "C-clamp" design. Helms, U.S. Pat. No. 3,793,914, replaces the conventional adjustment screw with a dog and tooth arrangement.
Many patents have also issued on modifications which render conventional locking pliers specialized tools. Most modifications are to the jaw structure. For example, Dyer, U.S. Pat. No. 2,328,433, is an electrode tip tool for spot welders; Lowther, U.S. Pat. No. 4,982,631, a tubing plug; Green, U.S. Pat. No. 4,829,875, a sheet metal abutment clamp; Shea, U.S. Pat. No. 5,168,783, a cable clamp; and Bush, U.S. Pat. No. 5,143,359, a plastic gripping member to be attached to a "C-clamp" locking pliers.
Other attachments are associated with the handle portion of the locking pliers. Smith, U.S. Pat. No. 5,280,892, discloses a motor driven system for positioning pieces to be welded. It uses a pair of locking pliers as jaws. Morrison, U.S. Pat. No. 4,889,021, discloses a security locking system for locking pliers. A system for remotely operating a set of locking pliers is disclosed in Gowers, U.S. Pat. No. 4,462,284. Seashore, U.S. Pat. No. 2,385,654, discloses a handle design employing a larger knob to operate a set of locking pliers. Teramo, U.S. Pat. No. 4,738,017 discloses a modification of both the handle and the jaw portion of a set of locking pliers to provide a parking brake cable tool. Heldt, U.S. Pat. No. 4,519,278, discloses a brace extension (speed wrench) adapter for a set of locking pliers. Trusty, U.S. Pat. No. 3,253,850, discloses a handle extending from a set of locking pliers to provide a means to use the locking pliers as a lifting tool. Lance, U.S. Pat. No. 4,297,756, discloses a "ball-joint" adapter fitted to the head of the adjustment screw of a set of locking pliers. This adapter is intended to support a camera or similar article.
Conventional or "channel-lock" pliers are also the subject of modifications to allow them to perform a wider range of tasks. Finn, U.S. Pat. No. 5,119,520, discloses a combination tool which adds a screwdriver bit and/or a socket adapter to the end of a set of plier handles. A tool extender in the form of a socket adapter for a pair of channel locks is disclosed in Ball, U.S. Pat. No. 4,738,167. Another tool extender is disclosed in Grau, U.S. Pat. No. 2,237,427. Another handle extender is disclosed in Berkich, U.S. Pat. No. 4,793,225.
These prior art devices fail to combine the versatility of a set of locking pliers with the often necessary tensioning or pulling force provided by a slide hammer or cable puller. For instance it is common practice in the auto body industry to drill holes in a sheet metal body part to thread a screw into the metal. A slide hammer is then attached to the screw and used to "pull" the metal into position. Similarly such a screw can be an anchoring point for a cable puller to facilitate positioning the sheet metal. The cable puller provides the advantage of allowing the metal to be slowly tensioned or to be pulled into position for welding. However, it is difficult to anchor the hook of a cable puller to the sheet metal. If tension is to be provided near an edge, a hook positioned over the edge is likely to slide, misdirecting the tension being applied. To anchor the puller in the center of a panel is even more problematic. To provide a point to which to secure the hook of a conventional puller would require one to screw a rather large eye-bolt or similar article into a hole in the panel. This requires drilling an impractically large hole in the panel.
Hence it is desirable to provide a convenient means to transfer tension from a puller to a sheet metal edge or panel. Additionally, it is desirable to provide a means to transfer tension from a puller or slide hammer to the center of a panel without requiring holes be drilled in the panel.